where do you stand on Alien 3 The assembly cut

It was the first Alien film to give me nightmares. I can honestly say it was a movie I appreciated, but didn't enjoy because of the dark elements and the death of Hicks and Newt. I grew up reading the Dark Horse comics, and, in their version, Hicks and Newt survive. So their death in the first scenes literally ruined the movie for me, and Ripley dying at the end was the last nail in the coffin.

I agree that the film wasn't that bad. The setting was interesting and there were many good actors (Charles Dance, Brian Glover). The alien as CGI-made wasn't that good. Alien 5 with Hicks and Newt can be interesting, though.

The egg was a plot device. People have argued for years on how it got there- the writers put it there to have a reason for the movie.

That said, Alien 3 is pretty good. It is the most difficult one to get motivated to watch, but I seem to like it better each time I see it. The cast was pretty good too. I can actually respect that it was intentionally bleak and ended like it did. Most movie series seem to always have the good guy win so everyone can feel good.

It was also nice to see the return of just one mean Xenomorph instead of a swarm.

try telling that to david fincher lol he hates it so much he didn't even want interviewed for the bonus dvd. though he didn't have much control. its well known he didn't want to do that version as he wanted to go from the script that was set on a monks wooden planet. hated hicks and newt being killed off (preferred the dark horse version) and I didn't have a problem with ripley dying. it was getting to the stage where I was thinking, 'how much bad luck is this gal going to have?' and was, for me, starting to get a bit tedious with ripley though the character is brilliant. didn't get much fresh material in alien3 I thought except the alien took the traits of a 4 legged animal, other than that same old but ok film

The alien effects were garbage. Either looked like a puppet on a string or a CGI cartoon.

Perhaps all that could be forgiven if they at least made the creature far more intelligent and malevolent than it turned out; it became a movie about getting an escaped but innocent zoo animal back into its enclosure.

I wanted a menacing, sadistic murderer; killing for sport, toying for pleasure; stalking the helpless and hapless humans in their haunted castle; giving them no peace or quarter as it takes them out a handful at a time.

I agree with dk,i also seem to like it more every time i watch it.Ripley's death is better in the Assembly cut(no queen chestburster,i don't think would've wanted to go that way)she dies on her terms and gives on big final F You to the company.Other things i love about is Elliot Goldenthal's score,and the setting as someone else pointed out.Hicks and Newt's funeral is probably the best scene in the whole film.

The Assembly is a curio. Alien3 was a flawed film and the Assembly doesn't fix any of the flaws.  The first half has a bunch of extra scenes with guys who are bumped off five minutes later.  The second half has a bunch of redundant 'does the Company want it or not?' scenes.

I think the only thing I would've kept was Clemens walking on the beach and seeing the EEV (but don't have him find Ripley), and keep the look between Ripley and Junior during the fire.

The Theatrical version, overall, is a much tighter and more entertaining film.

It was as a result of becoming involved here I bought the Quadrilogy set and re watched all four movies last year. I thought the Assembly Cut like other special editions in film transformed the movie.

The choice of the centre of gravity of the film is audacious. The Assembly Cut places the study of sexual repression and the use of quasi religious methods to control it at the core and far more of this story emerges in the Assembly Cut. Two Aliens comes into the story one Ripley the other the Calf. Ripley is much more of a perceived threat both to the delicate balance of the colonies function, Weyland Yutani's desire to acquire the Xenomorph and to Ripley herself. Golic's inverted narcissism towards the demon contrasts with the out right hostility shown toward Ripley.

Her interaction with the inmates, particularly Chance, comes over much more strongly and in the back ground is the unorthodoxy of the calf a fresh insight after the first two movies.

The climax of the movie for me has much more weight but and this is the audacity the A L I E N is reduced to mere texture the drama is all in Ripley and Bishop and the sacrifice.

This is how I believe Covenant will work though in a more imaginative way. The story will be centred around the the themes of Covenants, the breaking of them and the Engineers and Mankind's attempt to challenge mortality through sub creation and the punishment that results in. The various mutagenised outcomes are/will sell the story but they will simply be texture.

A L I E N S was as different from A L I EN as A3 was from its predecessor its just the Marines bad ass overlay to this day captures a certain part of the audience segment much more than the philosophical issues that A3 and Prometheus raise.        

Excellent piece Michelle Johnston.I hated the theatrical version of 3'the assembly cut made me love it.